


An Invitation You Can't Decline

by LadyShadowphyre



Series: Raphael Bingo [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AFAB!Raphael, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Genderqueer!Raphael, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Naomi's A+ Parenting, Other, Running Away To Marry A Complete Stranger To Avoid Being Forced To Marry A Complete Stranger, The Author Is Totally Not Procrastinating, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unwanted Arranged Betrothal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24812836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: Raphael Khan is never going to attend Stanford if they let their family force them into an arranged marriage after their graduation. Sam Winchester is never going to attend Stanford even with a full ride scholarship if he doesn't figure out additional financial aid in a hurry. Gabriel Kahn thinks he has the solution to both his cousin's and best friend's problems. It turns out to be even better than any of them thought.
Relationships: Raphael/Sam Winchester
Series: Raphael Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543060
Comments: 20
Kudos: 28





	An Invitation You Can't Decline

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the SPN Song Challenge Bingo square: "Killer Queen" by Queen  
> Written for the Raphael Bingo square: Runaway  
> Written for the SPN Fluff Bingo square: Soulmate AU
> 
> Raphael Khan is seventeen, which makes them technically underage for the next eight days until their birthday, however Sam is eighteen and their soulmate which makes them getting married in this universe much more legally viable. Honestly, the two of them don't even so much as hold hands in this story, so your mileage may vary.

**W** HEN THE TEXT message from their cousin came in, Raphael Khan was staring down the clock on the wall of their fifth period study hall, all of the day's homework long since completed, and bored out of their mind. With the end of year tests already completed and only a few days to go before the end of the school year, most of the class periods were nothing more than busywork or last minute college preparatory classes. Raphael had already sent out their applications to various colleges and received back their acceptances to several excellent universities. They also knew that none of it mattered, because their parents were never going to let them go off to college, no matter how prestigious a school the acceptance came from.

Raphael sighed and reached down to rub the inside of their left wrist, where the slanting scratch of their soulmate's Words were inscribed on their skin. They didn't doubt that their parents would try to force a bond between them and their betrothed, instructing Raphael and "Rami Lacroix" on what to say when they would meet for the first time after graduation. It wouldn't matter to them that Raphael hated the coldness in Lacroix's eyes in every picture they'd ever seen of him, or that Raphael wanted to go to college for pre-med studies to go into either nursing or medical school. It certainly didn't matter to their parents that Raphael, despite being born into a girl's body, did not identify as a girl in their own mind, a fact of which only their younger brother Uriel and their cousin Gabriel were aware. All that would matter to them was that they could finally seal the alliance between the Khan family and the Lacroix family by marrying off their "daughter" to the suitably wealthy business major male Lacroix heir, and that he would then be completely in charge of Raphael's future.

Raphael's cell phone vibrated again, almost like an insistent prod against their side. With a glance towards the front, Raphael slipped their hand into the inside pocket of their jacket and fished out the phone, holding it below the desk line as they slid their thumb over the screen, quickly unlocking it to get at the messages.

 _[G. Khan, 14:37] Got a question for you._ _  
__[G. Khan, 14:38] You got accepted to Stanford, right?_

Raphael blinked. Texting back one-handed took a bit, but eventually they sent off their response.

_[R. Khan, 14:40] Yes, not that it matters. Why?_

To their surprise, the little cycle of ellipses started up almost immediately. Raphael alternated between watching the dots and watching the clock, feeling unaccountably nervous as the seconds ticked by until Gabriel's message popped up on the screen.

_[G. Khan, 14:42] I'm coming to pick you up early, so be ready to leave when they call for you over the PA. You don't mind missing your last period, right?_

What.

_[R. Khan, 14:43] An explanation would be nice._

_[G. Khan, 14:44] Can't. Driving._

Well, fine. Raphael stifled a huff of irritation and slipped their phone back into their jacket. Missing last period was not much of a time frame, but it did mean they would need to factor in a stop at their locker to pick up whatever was left inside. If Gabriel really did have a plan to get them to Stanford despite their parents having essentially forbidden higher education unless Raphael's husband allowed it, then it probably involved running away in some manner. Which meant that whatever was in their locker might be all they had left to their name once their parents disowned them for their defiance.

Cheerful thought.

The PA crackled with the expected summons two minutes before the bell was due to ring. Raphael ignored the curious glances from their classmates as they gathered up their belongings and headed for their locker. With a two minute head start, they got most of the rest of their belongings shoved into their bag before the halls were flooded with students changing classrooms.

"Raphael?"

Shit. Of all the people who could have found them, made them hesitate, Mikaela Anghelescu was the only one for whom Raphael would consider even pausing. If they had even a hint more as to what Gabriel had planned, they might even have dared ask Mikaela to come with them, to see them off on whatever hairbrained, desperate adventure was waiting. Caution and practicality held them back; Gabriel couldn't sign Mikaela out too, and Raphael didn't want to risk dragging their best friend into something that might not even be completely legal. They closed their eyes as they wrestled down the stab of guilt, then glanced sideways at the girl standing at their elbow. "Mikaela."

Mikaela met their eyes evenly, searchingly, and Raphael let her look, let her see everything they didn't have time to say, to explain. _I'm sorry. I have to go. I can't bear to stay and be led to my family's planned fate for me like a lamb to slaughter. I wish you could come with me. I'll try to call to let you know I'm okay._ White teeth bit into the dark red stained lower lip, and then Mikaela nodded once and stepped back. "Be safe."

"You too," Raphael murmured, shoving the last loose bits of paper into their bag and closing the locker door. A flash of a look, a last shared smile, and then Mikaela was disappearing into the flow of students and Raphael was slipping away in the opposite direction for the front office, bag over their shoulder and determination hardening into resolve in their chest.

"Ready to go?" Gabriel asked when they pushed open the door to the main office. At Raphael's nod, he grabbed their hand and pulled them towards the exit. "Let's get moving, then, we're on a bit of a schedule."

"How much of a schedule?" Raphael asked. "And do I get to know what the plan is now?"

"We need to get up to Hartford before the end of school hours so it'll be harder for anyone to track us down and stop us," Gabriel said once they were clear of the school walls. "As for the plan, remember my best friend Sam Winchester?"

"Vaguely," Raphael frowned. They'd never met Sam in person - Mother was quite strict about Raphael not having any social contact with boys not related to them, as if even so much as shaking hands with a boy would cause them to become sullied and dishonored - but Gabriel had shared stories of the Winchester brothers with them and Uriel. Sam was the younger of the brothers, if they recalled, more studious where the older brother, Dean, was more inclined to be exactly the type of skirt-chasing rascal Mother was adamant Raphael not encounter. "Why?"

"Sam got a full ride scholarship to Stanford," came the startling answer, nearly causing Raphael to trip. A _full ride_? That was practically unheard of! Sam would have to be particularly brilliant to land something like that, which still didn't answer why Gabriel was signing them out of school early. "Problem is, that full ride has a few tiny exceptions that most people with supportive parents wouldn't blink at. Sam's old man isn't the scholastically supportive type, like, disownment and damnation over Sam even applying to go to college instead of dropping out of school now that he's eighteen and going to work at the garage in town."

"Harsh," Raphael offered, starting to get the idea that whatever plan Gabriel had most likely involved Sam in some integral way. Raphael's own disownment was also starting to look more and more likely, which curiously didn't bother them as much as they had thought it might.

"Way harsh," Gabriel huffed. They had reached Gabriel's car by now, and Raphael was less surprised than they might have been to see the silhouette of someone else sitting in the back seat. Gabriel opened the front passenger door for Raphael, then scooted around to the driver's door quickly while they climbed in, shutting his door a split second after Raphael and gunning the engine. "Anyway, Raphael, this is Sam Winchester, my best friend in the whole of Connecticut. Sam, this is my cousin Raphael Khan, who would really like to avoid becoming Mrs Rami Lacroix because Aunt Naomi is still stuck in the Dark Ages."

"And you thought your cousin would want to become Mrs Sam Winchester for the financial aid packet instead?" Sam said incredulously, surprising Raphael with the depth of his voice as much as the words he was saying. Which... what? Fumbling with the seatbelt, they shot a glare at Gabriel for not having explained this by text so they would have had some warning.

"A death in the family, marriage, or a sudden childbirth," Gabriel intoned as he peeled out of the parking lot with the air of someone repeating something for the nth time. He was also studiously ignoring Raphael's glaring. "You're too responsible to have a sudden illegitimate kid and you vetoed killing your old man, so here we are. Honestly, this seemed like a win-win scenario if you're both down for it."

"You could have explained," they huffed, settling their bag at their feet in the footwell. Maybe they should have risked asking Mikaela to come with them anyway, if only to have help disposing of Gabriel's body when they murdered him.

"Could've," Gabriel shrugged. "Didn't. Too late now. We doing this or what?"

"Unbelievable," Sam huffed, his tone nearly identical to Raphael's in a way that nearly made them smile. Raphael turned their head to look at him, and Sam caught her eye with a somewhat rueful-looking smile. " _Hi, I know this is pretty unexpected, but will you marry me?_ "

.... _What._

**B** EING FRIENDS WITH Gabriel Khan was usually about five percent mischief, ten percent reading between the lines, and eighty-five percent self-preservation. He was boisterous, always ready with a quip or a wisecrack, sometimes insightful and sometimes pithy and sometimes he ran verbal rings around someone to the point they went away feeling complimented and never even realised they'd been insulted in the process. Sam had learned quickly that Gabriel played up the "what you see is what you get" angle, but real understanding meant giving everything that came out of his mouth a second listen. The upside was that Gabriel usually listened to everything that was said to him with exactly as much attention as he was given in return, which meant that he noticed when Sam understood the layers beneath some of his quips when other, less attentive friends only heard the jokes, and knew when Sam saying he was fine was the truth and when it meant Sam was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.

The downside was that you had to be on your guard whenever you talked to Gabriel or you might find yourself agreeing to something hairbrained, dangerous, and maybe slightly illegal in the name of fun or freedom.

Having grown up with Dean for an older brother, Sam was better equipped than most of their classmates to handle negotiated participation, which meant he caught more of the subtle verbal traps Gabriel liked to use to trip up his other friends and frenemies. More than one person had asked Sam for his secret in "handling the scary shortstack", and few of them had responded well when his answer was a simple, "I listen." The one time he'd overheard a variation on the exchange, Gabriel had given Sam a long look and then a quiet, real smile. He hadn't stopped with the verbal traps, but he was visibly gleeful and approving whenever Sam sidestepped or challenged them. He also, to Sam's relief, understood the meaning of "not a good time" when Sam really couldn't deal with any added stress and could be counted on to back off or run interference for him as needed.

So when Gabriel found him in the library almost tearing out his hair as he stared at the accumulated papers detailing his Stanford scholarship and the totals for everything that "full ride" didn't actually cover, Sam greeted him with, "A death in the family, a marriage, or a sudden childbirth is the only way I'm going to be able to actually go to Stanford."

"Full ride scholarship not so full?" Gabriel asked around the jumbo gourmet lollipop. Sam slid the page with his estimated cost of living versus available funds over to him without looking and heard the rustle of paper followed by a low whistle. "Damn. You could always try stripping."

"Can't do that for the reputable clubs until I'm twenty-one," Sam muttered into his hands. "Getting a job is pretty much a given requirement, but after Dad found my 'college fund' and took it down to the liquor store I don't have anything left to give me a cushion for _finding_ a job that fits around my class schedule."

"He just took your money?" Gabriel sounded incredulous. "Who does that?!"

"A drunk who doesn't understand why the wastrel, good for nothing son with his head in a book all the time instead of under a car hood might need sixteen hundred dollars in cash for graduation," Sam grimaced and lifted his head. "He used to do it to Dean, too, even though Dean was earning money to cover the actual bills like food and rent and utilities that Dad would be too drunk to remember to pay on time the way he paid his bar tab."

"Didn't you say a death in the family was on the table?"

"No, I said it was one of three listed options, not that it was an available one."

"Spoilsport," Gabriel tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, then said, "Okay, if patricide for the good of your higher education is out, what about marriage?"

"Less impossible than coming up with a surprise kid, that's for sure," Sam sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'd have to have been both active and careless for that to happen, but that also kinda limits my options for a last-minute spouse since I'm not dating anyone."

"What about an ex?" Gabriel started, then pulled a face. "No, yeah, you and Luka were a match made in Hell and Ruby wasn't much better."

"Ruby's also found her soulmate already, which is why we broke it off in the first place," Sam reminded him and saw the comprehension and remembrance dawn on his friend's face. Dark brows drew together as Gabriel sucked thoughtfully on the end of the lollipop, then flew up as his friend froze, looking almost thunderstruck. Sam, instantly wary, fought down the urge to edge away when Gabriel looked back at him, gold eyes bright and glittering.

"How off the table is marrying someone you've never met before?" Gabriel asked.

"On the edge, but since it's you asking I'm gonna trust you wouldn't be suggesting someone you think I'd absolutely hate," Sam answered, feeling a sweep of cautious relief. If anything, his answer seemed to make Gabriel even more gleeful.

"No objections to a courthouse wedding?" Gabriel had his phone out now, fingers flying over the screen.

"No..." Dean would kill him for getting married without him there, but since their Dad would kill him for going off to college Sam was willing to risk his brother's wrath and grovel later.

"Great! Grab your stuff, we need to go pick Raphael up from Greenwich," Gabriel said, bouncing up from the table, still typing away at his phone.

"Your cousin Raphael?" Sam asked, scrambling to gather up his papers and bookbag while Gabriel bounced impatiently next to him, thankfully not so impatient as to try and help. "The one you said your Aunt Naomi keeps practically on house arrest because she thinks her soulmate words sound like a proposition?"

"That's the one," Gabriel nodded. "And it's they/them, not that Aunt Naomi gives a shit about that either. Phae might be a little cross at me for telling you that without their permission, but I know you won't hold it against them."

It's nothing at all for them both to sign themselves out of school early. Both boys were eighteen, a fact which Gabriel claimed could only work in their favor right now. Moments later, Sam was seated in the back of his best friend's car trying to make a more tidy order of all his books and papers, Gabriel not quite breaking the speed limit to get to Greenwich Academy campus, alternating between sending hurried texts and scrolling legal documents on his phone while telling Sam stories about Raphael and her - their - younger brother, Gabriel's strict and controlling Aunt Naomi, and - with a level of somber solemnity that is almost alien coming from Gabriel - how his incredibly intelligent and kindhearted cousin was being betrothed to some rich asshole from a family of which his aunt and uncle approve and how his aunt would absolutely try and force a soulbond on his cousin to "make the match work".

He also left Sam in the car while he went in to sign his cousin out - which he had to do because she was still seventeen and would be for another eight days which was six days too far past graduation - which meant that Sam had a good ten or so minutes of sitting in the back seat of his best friend's car to think way too much about the fact that he was letting Gabriel talk him into marrying a complete stranger in what was supposedly both of their best interests despite one of the things Raphael was facing was being forced to get married to a complete stranger. Which, what even? And then, when Gabriel returned towing his apparently incredibly attractive cousin behind him and introduced them to each other in his usual flippant manner, Sam learned that despite the texting Gabriel hadn't actually explained anything of the plan to Raphael at all.

"Unbelievable," Sam huffed at the back of Gabriel's head. He turned to offer a rather rueful smile at Raphael, a little amazed that they hadn't dived out of the moving car to get away from their cousin and his complete stranger of a best friend. "Hi, I know this is pretty unexpected, but will you marry me?"

Raphael sucked in a sharp breath, their eyes going very wide as they stared at him. Sam could feel his face starting to heat from embarrassment as their mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, clearly grappling with a response to his proposal--

 _"Do you always begin conversations this way?"_ they asked, the Words hitting Sam in the chest like a punch.

_Oh._

**=End=**

**Author's Note:**

> Gabriel: Ha! Score one for Fate! In your face, Aunt Naomi!  
> Raphael: Gabriel, did you--  
> Gabriel: Nope, didn't say a word of your Words to him, just playing Fate's delivery boy~  
> Sam: ....Is this why you stared at my wrist so hard the other day?  
> Gabriel: Mmmaybe...  
> Raphael: Hm. Well, Sam, under the circumstances, yes, I would be happy to marry you.


End file.
